Our Old Self Was Crucified With Him — How? Which View is True to Scripture?

Introduction

Romans 6:6 declares: “We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.” This verse has sparked centuries of debate. What does Paul mean by “our old self was crucified with Christ”? Was this a legal declaration, a mystical participation, an ethical call, or a sanctifying process?

This blog will survey the main interpretive views from church history and theology, and then argue that the mystical union view — that believers truly participate in Christ’s death and resurrection — is the most faithful to Scripture, while other approaches fall short.

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The Major Interpretive Views

1. Positional / Legal View

• Definition: Our old self was crucified with Christ in the sense of legal representation. Christ bore our penalty as our covenant head.
• Proponents: Augustine (in part), Martin Luther, John Calvin, and much of Reformed theology.
• Strengths: Upholds justification as forensic — sin’s guilt is canceled.
• Weaknesses: Risks reducing Paul’s language to a mere metaphor or “status change,” ignoring his insistence on real participation.

Calvin wrote: “We are crucified with Christ, that is, by virtue of that union which we have with him, we are partakers of his death, so that our old man is crucified.” (Institutes 3.11.10).

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2. Mystical / Union with Christ View

• Definition: Believers truly share in Christ’s death and resurrection. Through Spirit-baptism, His past becomes ours.
• Proponents: Irenaeus (recapitulation), Athanasius, Chrysostom, Thomas Aquinas, N. T. Wright, Michael Gorman, Eastern Orthodoxy, and many Protestants.
• Strengths: Best accounts for Paul’s participatory language (“we have died with Christ”).
• Weaknesses: Must guard against collapsing history into timeless metaphor or sacramentalism.

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3. Existential / Ethical View

• Definition: Paul uses metaphorical language to describe a decisive break with sin — the believer chooses to crucify the old way of life.
• Proponents: Rudolf Bultmann, some liberal Protestant traditions.
• Strengths: Emphasizes responsibility and moral transformation.
• Weaknesses: Reduces mystical union to subjective decision, flattening Paul’s realism.

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4. Sanctification / Holiness View

• Definition: The crucifixion of the old self refers to an ongoing sanctifying process, sometimes seen as a “second blessing” where sin’s nature is eradicated.
• Proponents: John Wesley, Holiness movement, Keswick teachers, Watchman Nee.
• Strengths: Connects Romans 6 with daily growth in holiness.
• Weaknesses: Risks conflating a completed event with ongoing experience; can lead to perfectionism or discouragement.

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5. Already–Not Yet View

• Definition: The old self is truly crucified (already), but the believer must still live it out (not yet).
• Proponents: Oscar Cullmann, George Eldon Ladd, Douglas Moo, James D. G. Dunn.
• Strengths: Balances definitive union with progressive sanctification.
• Weaknesses: Can leave Paul’s past-tense emphasis (“was crucified”) undercut by too much “not yet.”

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Why the Mystical View Best Fits Scripture

1. Paul’s language is participatory, not merely legal.
   • “I have been crucified with Christ” (Gal 2:20). This is not courtroom imagery, but identity reality.
2. Ethics in Romans 6 flows out of who we are, not what we strive to become.
   • Paul does not say “crucify your old self.” He says it has been crucified. The imperative (“consider yourselves dead to sin,” v.11) rests on an indicative.
3. Union is central to Paul’s gospel.
   • Salvation is not simply through Christ (legal), but in Christ (mystical).
4. Historical resonance.
   • The early Fathers and much of Eastern theology preserved this participatory emphasis, while the Reformation leaned heavily into the legal. The mystical view harmonizes both, but gives primacy to Paul’s own wording.

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Application: Living from the Cross

If your old self truly was crucified with Christ, then sin no longer has authority over you. This is not a call to try harder, but to believe deeper. The Christian life is not striving to crucify what Christ has already crucified, but living in the freedom of resurrection. As Watchman Nee put it: “God does not ask us to crucify ourselves. We were crucified when Christ was crucified.” (The Normal Christian Life).

So the question becomes: will you walk as if your old self is still alive, or live from the reality that it is already dead?